INSIDE OUT AND OUTtv ANNOUNCE FIRST RECIPIENTS OF ‘OUTSPOKEN DOCUMENTARY FILM FINANCING FUND’
October 25, 2019
INSIDE OUT AND OUTtv ANNOUNCE FIRST RECIPIENTS OF ‘OUTSPOKEN DOCUMENTARY FILM FINANCING FUND’
Inside Out, Canada’s largest LGBTQ film festival and single largest promoter and exhibitor of LGBTQ content in Canada, and OUTtv, Canada’s national LGBTQ+ television network, proudly announced today the first two recipients of their joint initiative, the ‘OUTspoken Documentary Film Financing Fund’.
Announced earlier this year, the fund will finance two documentary projects from LGBTQ Canadian filmmakers, selected following an open call for submissions facilitated by Inside Out. The winning projects will also receive mentoring and production support from OUTtv and Inside Out. OUTtv will broadcast the completed documentaries on OUTtv, and also on OUTtvGo, OUTtv’s subscription video on demand platform.
The selected projects are:
No Squad in the Wild: Director, Lovelen Kaur
Yasmine, a 27 year old Queer, Muslim Woman of Colour grapples with her future in Toronto’s Hip Hop scene. Despite some major successes, she is at a crossroads on choosing Hip Hop or a 9-5 so she’s putting it all into her second album. If this album doesn’t open new doors, will it be time for Yasmine to put down the mic?
The Archivist: Director, Tricia Hagoriles
Sur Rodney (Sur) is an artist, poet, writer, curator, and archivist. After leaving Montreal in the late 70s, his work as the director of the Gracie Mansion Gallery in the early 80s would help shape the art scene and art economy of New York’s East Village. His career would take a dramatic shift in the advent of the AIDS crisis and instead, focus on background activism and protecting the work of black gay artists that he would outlive.
“We were overwhelmed by the quality and diversity of the submitted projects,” said Andria Wilson, Inside Out’s Executive Director. “It sent us a clear message that the immensely talented Canadian LGBTQ doc filmmakers across the country need more access to financing and support, and we are proud to be a part of bringing these projects to life.”
“We were truly overwhelmed by the calibre of talent in the submissions for the OUTspoken Documentary Financing Fund,” said Brad Danks, CEO of OUTtv. “Our chosen titles, The Archivist and No Squad in the Wild are two documentaries that stood out to us and demanded our attention. We are thrilled to be highlighting these unique stories as part of our OUTspoken documentary strand by awarding them the funding to bring their visions to OUTtv viewers.”
From Tricia Hagoriles, director of THE ARCHIVIST: “When Sur Rodney (Sur) agreed to collaborate with Lindsay and me, we were humbled and excited by the opportunity to preserve not only his history but the histories of a near-lost generation of queer artists. The Inside Out + OUTtv Outspoken Documentary Fund provides the support and access required to tell these stories with the attention they deserve and we are so incredibly grateful to be recipients of this important grant.”
From Loveleen Kaur, director of NO SQUAD IN THE WILD: “As an emerging documentary filmmaker, the opportunity to tell a distinct story such as this are few and far between. I can’t wait to bring this important, unique, and multi-layered story from a suburb of Toronto to the surface for wider audiences to witness through OutTV’s national platform.”